Fatties

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Recently, there was an incident involving writer-director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. According to Smith, he was seated on a flight, but then asked to leave because he was deemed too large and was making the people on either side of him uncomfortable. Smith freely admits to being overweight, but in following the airlines own guidance regarding being “too fat to fly,” he was well within compliance. The policy states that if you can put the arm-rests down and buckle your seat belt, you are able to fly in one seat. Despite the fact that Smith could do both of those things, he was removed from the flight in an embarrassing scene played out in front of a plane full of passengers.



I’ve read several articles about this, and personally believe that Southwest made a huge mistake. Not only did they disregard their own policy, they humiliated a customer who happened to have the capability to make their behavior very public. Kevin Smith is not the sort of person to turn his back on a fight. He has used his blog and huge Tweet fan-base to demand an apology from the airline, while calling them on each new falsehood they released while trying to twist the story in their favor.


As a consistent flier and a fellow member of the “overweight” camp, I have been fascinated by this story. Like Smith, I can fit in the narrow seats of coach class while allowing the arm rests to lower. I can also fasten my seatbelt without the aid of an extension. Despite that, I am still self-conscious when someone is sitting beside me and worry that I am taking up too much space. I cross my arms tightly and try to take up as little space as possible, to the point of my own discomfort.


I’ve also sat next to people that could not lower the arm rest or fasten their belt without additional help. Their hips, stomach and arms have crossed over into my allotted space where I had little to spare. It’s not pleasant, and I can feel their awkwardness and shame. The doughy pressing of flesh is uncomfortable for us both, and any chance of polite conversation is smothered by our overwhelming mutual embarrassment.


But I digress…


One of the evils of internet articles and blogs is the ability for any person with a computer to make comments. As I’ve said before, I find myself drawn to the comments, much like we are drawn to the sound of sirens, to gauge just how bad things are. Although I seek the rare nuggets of wisdom and logic, I am usually disappointed and often disgusted by the lack of insight and gleeful mean-spiritedness.


Here are some select (unedited) comments from various websites on the “Smith-Southwest” situation:



Stop catering to the fatties of the world!



Airlines should have a 'pay by weight' deal. The fatter you are (up to fitting into a seat, not a smidge more), you should PAY more. Same deal with clothes. It takes yards more to make something for a fat pig than (what SHOULD BE) an average sized person (waist size under 32 inches).


MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


Lose weight you tub of lard.


I hate fat people.


No one wants your fat disgusting rolls intruding on the seat they paid for.


I've sat next to more than one fatty in my travels. And nothing is worse than their hot sweaty fat rolls pushing their way under the armrest, which they never lower, into the seat I paid for and press against me for the entire flight.


Fat people on planes are a safety hazard, I agree to that. They need to be tasered in the parking lot.


They suck too much oxygen out of the air. If the plane crashes, all that extra fat is more likely to be combustible, creating an inferno of blubberish foggy smoke. Children will have nightmares for years, if they even survive! People won't be able to see where to go for safety. Think about THAT next time some fat porker gets in line at the airport deli! That greasy plate of cheeseburger, fries, pop and pie is going to create one hell of a fireball!


Fat people need to wake up - YOU made yourself fat, no one else. I don't wanna sit next to you on a plane or anywhere else. It turns my stomach upside down.


Start eating right, exercise, get your head out of the KFC bucket and stop DRIVING MY HEALTH INSURANCE UP, you fat pieces of crap!


Put him in the cargo area. I think he should fit there


I think that’s enough of that for now. I didn’t post these to defend the lifestyle of the overweight. I’d say most overweight people aren’t very happy about the fact that they are overweight. What amazes me is the spectacular viciousness of these comments…and trust me, there are lots and lots more. On one website I counted over 100 disturbingly ugly comments before I got to one that responded in a sympathetic, Christian manner.


This is the sad state of our nation. Cold, callous and self-righteous; we look down our nose at anyone who is not just different, but doesn’t fit our particular image of what is “perfect.” Who are the “beautiful” people, and who told them that they were?


I admit that I have my moments when I can’t help but ask how God could make one man look like Brad Pitt, with a face and body that men envy and women desire, and then another to look like Kevin Smith (or me), with low metabolism and addictive tendencies toward fast food and pasta? It hardly seems fair, but that was never a promise to us anyway. Just ask any family dealing with birth defects or any number of life changing situations that seem to fall upon some but not others. Life is not about “fair.”


Everyone has a different path and the obstacles laid before us are not the same.


I would consider myself pretty fortunate if the worst of my faults is that I’m just fat. I prefer that to being one of those who sit back and judge…who seem to have been given the perfect life and the perfect body…because the day will come when they will be forced to look at the reflection of who they really are, and it just might be too late to change.

 
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